g sort of way, and that his wide-open eyes were looking at the
woman. Then I noticed for the first time that his face was cut and
bruised, and his lips were swollen. His coat was loose at the throat,
and I could see livid marks on his neck.

"'I'm all right,' he whispered, struggling for breath, and turning his
eyes to me. 'We should have died--in a few minutes more--if it hadn't
been for the light in your window!'

"The young woman bent down and kissed him, and then she allowed me to
help her to my cot. When I had attended to the young man, and he had
regained strength enough to stand upon his feet, she was asleep. The
man went to her, and dropped upon his knees beside the cot. Tenderly he
drew back the heavy masses of hair from about her face and shoulders.
For several minutes he remained with his face pressed close against
hers; then he rose, and faced me. The woman--his wife--knew nothing of
what passed between us during the next half-hour. During that half-hour
gentlemen, I received my first confession. The young man was of my
faith. He was my first penitent."

It was growing colder in the coach, and Father Charles stopped to draw
his thin black coat closer to him. Forsythe relighted his cigar for the
third time. The transient passenger gave a sudden start as a gust of
wind beat against the window like a threatening hand.

"A rough stool was my confessional, gentlemen," resumed Father Charles.
"He told me the story, kneeling at my feet--a story that will live with
me as long as I live, always reminding me that the little things of
life may be the greatest things, that by sending a storm to hold up a
coach the Supreme Arbiter may change the map of the world. It is not a
long story. It is not even an unusual story.

"He had come into the North about a year before, and had built for
himself and his wife a little home at a pleasant river spot ten miles
distant from my cabin. Their love was of the kind we do not often see,
and they were as happy as the birds that lived about them in the
wilderness. They had taken a timber claim. A few months more, and a new
life was to come into their little home; and the knowledge of this made
the girl an angel of beauty and joy. Their nearest neighbor was another
man, several miles distant. The two men became friends, and the other
came over to see them frequently. It was the old, old story. The
neighbor fell in love with the young settler's wife.

"As you shall see, this other